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Friday, February 4, 2011

You Don't Have To Be Perfect

I took Ilona to an advanced screening of the Bill Cunningham documentary and on the way there she started to tell me about her eyelashes. She said," I don't always get them on straight, but there is beauty in imperfection." I always have my Flip camera around to capture Ilona's infinite wisdom and I made a small video of her explaining why you don't have to be perfect, and how there is more beauty in imperfection. After our ride we got out of the taxi and Ilona gave me a quick dancing lesson in the rain in Times Square. For more videos of this fantastic 90 year old woman check out my new video page.

This was one of the best interviews. I love reading about wabi sabi which involves the beauty of the organic. It is hard to describe but it embraces the beauty of "imperfection".I'm really loving the interviews you are doing.

I'd like to ask something from Ilona. She mentioned that she has been truly confident only for the past ten years of her life. My question is: What was the turning point that made her more confident? Was it an event or a person that initiated the change in her attitude? Or was it simply her 80th birthday?

I like the blog and the refreshing approach it presents towards aging. I understand what age groups Ari targets and why. However, as we inevitably age by the day aren't we all to face these issues? I mean, aging is really an ongoing process.

As time passes the signs of aging accumulate until we reach a point when we say "I 've reached (a certain number of years) now I am old." When we retire we become officially 'old' and 'passive' members of society.

Yet, as we reach different stages of our lives we might perceive ourselves younger or older than our actual age is. When I was in my early twenties I had a roommate who was in her early thirties. "I will never be THAT ancient.” I thought. “No living creature could be that old." There were older people around me, naturally, but they were not my roommates. I am in my forties now.

It gives us comfort to relate to our own age group. However, aging is such a fundamental issue that any age group could benefit from the experiences revealed and shared here.